


Cultural Practices

by Lekkunamatata



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Revenge, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 10:04:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8158264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lekkunamatata/pseuds/Lekkunamatata
Summary: Lasats deal with terrible crimes differently than humans. After the unthinkable happens, Zeb can't just let his brother's rapists go free.





	

**Author's Note:**

> To start, the rape isn't shown. And Ezra is about eighteen years old in this. I hope you like seeing justice served.

_"Take the pretty one."_

_"Um, they're all pretty, sir."_

_"The pretty boy."_

_"There's two pretty boys, sir."_

_Take the rifle apart. Carefully place every part in an orderly manner on the table._

_The leader groaned and grabbed Ezra, roughly gripping his face in his gloved hand._

_"This one!"_

_Ezra struggled, revulsion evident on his face._

_"Let go of me, you sleemo!"_

Clean the rifle slowly, methodically. Keep a close eye out for any nicks or damage that could affect its lethality.

_"Oh, that one." another, a rhodian, leered. "He sure is cute."_

_"Get away from him!" Kanan snarled, able to tell even without sight that they were all but pawing at his Padawan._

_"Go on, go on, have your fun. I'll handle these two." The leader shoved Ezra into their waiting arms, grinning as they started to pull him out of the room. Ezra fought like a wild rancor to get away, spitting insults and threats that only made the men laugh. Ezra's shouts mingled with Zeb's and Kanan's to make a cacophony of desperation and rage that they were helpless to do anything about._

_Ezra's raging and the men's laughing jeers were cut off with the slamming of the door as they disappeared, the last flash of fear on Ezra's face burned into Zeb's mind._

_Kanan howled._

The part bent in his hand and Zeb took a deep breath. This one was expensive, too expensive to replace right now. He looked up when Ezra entered the room.

_"They didn't manage to do anything, guys."_

_It was only Kanan's hand that kept him from going after the sleemos after the Ghost chased them off. That and Ezra's obvious unease. Zeb's protective instincts flared at the bruises on his throat, and he laid his hands defensively on the kit's small shoulders as Kanan traced Ezra's face, checking for damage._

_"Are you sure? Ezra, if they did anything-"_

_"Please don't touch me." Ezra's voice was small. They yanked their hands back like he'd been burned, apology written across both of their faces._

_"Of course." Kanan acquiesced, willing to do anything to make Ezra comfortable. "Whatever you need, I'm here for you. We both are."_

_Ezra nodded, not looking at their faces. Zeb put a hand on Kanan's arm, substituting the touch he desperately needed right now._

"You doing alright, kit?" Zeb asked lowly, putting his bo rifle back together.

"You gonna ask that every time I walk into a room?" Ezra shot back, annoyance scrawled across his face. Zeb understood. Between Kanan's obvious worry and Hera's hovering, the kit hadn't gotten a lot of time to himself recently. But that wouldn't stop Zeb from asking.

"You were attacked. We worry."

"Well cut it out. I don't need to be babied." Ezra said sullenly as he sat down.

And winced.

The expression was just subtle enough that Zeb would have missed it had he not been looking closely. But he was, and he had seen it. He slowly set his bo rifle down, his mind going into overdrive trying to deny what the evidence was telling him.

"Zeb? You okay?"

The fire in Zeb's chest was back, the one that had sparked when the men dared to touch his little brother.

"They did touch you, didn't they?" His voice was low. Dangerous. Ezra's eyes widened.

"What? I told you they didn't."

"You always lie when you think it will make us feel better. I saw that, just now. When you sat down."

"Zeb, just stop."

"If they really did rape you-" Zeb growled threateningly, unable to conceal his anger, trusting Ezra to know it wasn't directed at him.

"So what if they did!?" Ezra burst out, standing up. "You expect me to admit to you and Kanan that I was too weak to fight them all off? That I wasn't strong enough to stop it from happening?" Ezra glared up into his eyes, shame and anger brimming in his eyes.

Zeb suddenly felt cold, like he was hearing this from far away. Ezra turned away from him, electing to stare angrily at the wall. His arms wrapped around himself unconsciously, making him seem even smaller.

"Ezra..."

"What do you want me to say, Zeb? That they all took their pleasure at once? That they didn't give me a second to breathe? Do you want me to tell you in detail exactly what they did?" Ezra didn't look at him, his voice biting. A frightened, injured loth cat lashing out.

The numb shock had receded now, giving way to white hot fury.

"They can't get away with this!" Zeb snarled fiercely, fists clenching almost painfully.

"They can. It happens all the time on Lothal. I was lucky to avoid it for so long." He said bitterly.

"They have to pay! They have to _suf_ -"

"It's over. It happened. There's nothing I can do about it. And _don't_ tell Kanan. He has enough to deal with without adding my baggage." Ezra turned his back, obviously done with the conversation. He didn't say a word as he hurried out of the room.

Zeb was left in whirlwind of helpless fury, thoughts jumbled and bathed in red. He snarled, slamming a fist into to wall beside him.

On lasan, there were very clear rules for situations like this. The offended party would kill the offenders, tossing their heads and whatever other body parts they desired into the town square to showcase the depravity of the offenders. But this wasn't lasan, and Ezra would rather bottle the ordeal up like he did every trauma he went through. _Karabast_ , the kit didn't deserve this!

One thing was very clear. If Ezra wouldn't exact justice for himself, then Zeb would do it for him.

\-----

It took him two days to track the bounty hunters, his progress hindered by the need to be subtle. The others might disagree if they learned what he was planning.

Ezra had been avoiding him as much as he could, scared of Zeb thinking less of him for his perceived weakness despite Zeb's assurances that Ezra was not to blame.

It was this that drove Zeb. Ezra's avoidance, his nights waking in terror trying to pry off hands that weren't there, his flinching away from even Hera's touch, Kanan's pinched brow when his Padawan blocked him out. All this pushed him until he finally found himself in a back alley of some Outer Rim dirtball, with the guilty men kneeling at his feet, cuffed tightly and looking terrified. Good.

"You know why I'm here, so let's skip the reintroductions."

"Look man, we were just doing our jobs! And you escaped, so no harm no foul." The first man spat indignantly.

"No harm?" Zeb demanded. "Do you remember the human you violated? The blue eyed one?" Their eyes widened as they realized what exactly was feeding the inferno behind the lasats eyes.

"Is that was this is about? Look, we're men, we have needs. The leader had you handled and the guy was an easy targ-"

"Which one of you used his mouth?" He interrupted, fearing he'd kill them outright if the man had continued. It _better_ had just been one of them or Zeb would be here for a while. None of them answered. Not that Zeb was surprised. Narrowing his eyes, he reached into his pack and pulled out the vibroblade he'd borrowed from Sabine's quarters.

"Talk. Or I start cutting off fingers segment by segment." He raised the blade to the middle man's hand to prove how serious he was.

"M-Me." The man on the far left sobbed, finally breaking. "I-I did. H-He was screaming insults a-and I-"

Zeb sliced the man's pants open and severed his member in two flicks of his wrist. The man shrieked, falling backwards onto the ground and writhing as the blood poured from the wound, tears and snot streaming down his face as he thrashed in agony.

Disgusted, Zeb shoved the bloodied appendage into the man's screaming mouth, cutting him off with a choked gag. The man had no time to try and spit it out before Zeb had placed the duratape over his mouth and nose.

"Now you choke on it." Zeb sneered, watching the sleemo try to breathe. The other men's faces had drained of color as they finally realized the gravity of the situation they were in. They all watched wordlessly as the man choked, his eyes pleading for help until the moment they dimmed.

"He's dead! You killed him!" The rhodian cried, struggling in his bonds.

"I did, and you're both going to join him soon enough." He brought the vibroblade up to the quaking rhodian's face. "You're the one who leered at my brother, yeah? Said he was cute with that disgusting look on your face? Did you touch him?" The rhodian went to shake his head, but then reconsidered at Zeb's piercing gaze. A gaze that would see straight through him.

"Y-Yes. We did. We t-took turns fu-."

"I don't want to hear it. I sincerely hope you enjoyed my brother's looks, because he's the last beautiful thing you're ever going to see." Zeb raised the black blade to the rhodian's eye, ignoring his pleas as he started to press-

The approach of footsteps and the sounds of blasters being raised stopped him in his tracks.

"Step away from the bounty hunters, lasat." Agent Kallus said coldly. The rhodian sobbed with relief and Zeb turned to Kallus, green eyes blazing in impatient fury.

"Back off, Kallus. This is family business." Zeb growled. Kallus narrowed his eyes.

"These men are currently under the employ of the Empire, and are therefore under it's protection. By assaulting them, you-"

"So these are the kind of men you hire? And you wonder why we hate Imperials." Zeb practically spat, sticking the blade into the leg of the man who was attempting to wriggle free of his bonds, pinning him to the ground. The man screamed, ceasing his fruitless attempts in favor of weeping.

"Orrelios, what is the meaning of this?" Kallus asked, clearly trying for diplomacy. He knew the lasat, he knew he wasn't one to kill indiscriminately. Zeb snorted, though everyone present could see his tension.

"The meaning of this is that these _koloyahgs_ that _you_ sent _raped_ my little brother." Zeb growled, the righteous fury in his eyes sending a thrill of fear down even Kallus' spine. His men raised their blasters on instinct, looking to Kallus for orders.

"The Bridger boy?" Kallus' stomach twisted uncomfortably at the idea that the lasat could be telling the truth. But Zeb's baring of his teeth and the sheer brutality of his actions were all the answer he needed, and Kallus turned his now suspicious eyes to the men. "A very serious accusation. Is this true?" Kallus examined the men closer, taking note of the dead man with a taped face and a suspicious red stain on his pants.

"N-No! He's crazy! He just attacked us out of nowhere!" The rhodian cried desperately. Zeb rolled his eyes.

"As much as I hate it, you know me, Agent. You've studied my culture, our practices. You know how serious these things are. Would I lie about this? Would any lasat?" Those green eyes seemed to pierce him, daring him to deny the truth of his words.

After a tense moment, Kallus signaled to his men to stand down.

"Rapists are not tolerated in our ranks or our employ." His voice was ice as he turned away. "Orrelios, don't leave a mess."

"No! No!" The men begged, tears beginning to fall as they watched their last hope walk away.

"Don't worry, Imp. I won't leave a trace."

\----

"Zeb, you're back." Kanan smiled, abandoning his meditation. "Where were you?"

"I was just out getting a gift for Ezra." Zeb smiled, grateful Kanan couldn't see the bloodied bag. Kanan looked confused.

"A gift?"

"The kit's been through a lot, and he's been a real downer. I wanted to try and make him smile." Zeb rubbed his neck awkwardly. Kanan smiled beatifically.

"That's great. What did you get him?"

"It's a secret." Zeb smiled, the humor in his voice putting Kanan at ease.

"Alright, I can respect that. As long as it's not explosive. It's not explosive, is it, Zeb?"

"It's not explosive. You're too suspicious." Zeb shifted the bag out of Kanan's reach, just in case.

"I'm just worried about him, Zeb." Kanan admitted, "He's been closed off. He won't let me in, it's like he's hiding something. I'm terrified it has something to do with the last mission."

"The kid was threatened with a horrific crime, Kanan. He just needs time. He'll come around."

"You're right. I shouldn't be worrying like this. But I can't help it, you know?"

"Boy, do I know." That got a laugh out of Kanan.

"Well, I won't keep you any longer. Go give him your secret gift. Just please make sure it doesn't break anything, okay?"

"When have I ever broken anything in my life?" Zeb grinned, already out the door. Kanan's snort echoed through the hallway as Zeb made his way to the room he shared with the kid.

Zeb entered their room, seeing Ezra propped on the top bunk, eyes fixed on the latest mission report.

"Hey, Zeb. Where'd you run off to?" Ezra asked, not looking up from his datapad.

"I got you something." Zeb held the bag out to Ezra. Ezra looked down at him questioningly, and Zeb pushed the slightly smelly bag towards him. Curiosity overcoming his suspicion, Ezra leapt down to the floor and took the bag cautiously, gingerly opening it as if expecting a trick. Zeb watched with barely concealed anticipation as Ezra finally opened it all the way.

The pale, desiccated head of what may have been a rhodian once (it was difficult to tell with the gouged out eyes and the terrible disfigurement of its face) greeted Ezra. He let out a shout, dropping the bag and scrambling back.

"Zeb, what the _kriff_!?"

"It's a gift."

"These are dismembered body parts! Is this what you call a gift!? Is that...? Wait a minute..." Ezra peered closer at the bag's contents, recoiling when he recognized one of the heads. "Are these the men that attacked me?"

"The same." Zeb said proudly. Ezra looked disturbed.

"Did you actually spend time looking for them? And then you... they don't look like they died quickly."

"They didn't." Zeb chirped.

"Why?" Ezra asked, searching Zeb's face for answers. "Why would you do this for me?"

"You're one of mine." Zeb said, sobering a bit. "And you were unforgivably violated. In my culture, the victim usually seeks the revenge. Usually you'd mutilate them to your hearts content and toss their heads in the town square, but you didn't want to do that. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I don't blame you for wanting to just move on, but the responsibility to make them pay fell to me."

"None of this was your fault, why do you feel responsible?" The heat was gone from Ezra's voice, replaced with genuine curiosity.

"Because you're one of mine." Zeb said again, like it should have been obvious. "I'm an Honor Guard, and you and the crew are my charges. I protect you guys as I would the lasan royal family. I'm sorry that I failed you, kit, but rest assured it will never happen again."

"Thank you." Ezra said, looking touched.

"Any time. You're mine, just like the others. Just don't let it go to your head."

For the first time in a week, Ezra granted Zeb a smile.


End file.
